BUFFALO, N.Y. _ The Stars were seeking a 60-minute performance Saturday, and got just that.
Starting the game with a 10-0 advantage in shots on goal, Dallas rode roughshod over the Buffalo Sabres to a 7-1 victory at Key Bank Center. It was one of the more complete performances for a team that is playing pretty well, and it netted seven points (3-0-1) out of a four-game road trip and pushed the Stars to 27-17-4 (58 points).
That's important, because the Stars entered the day just three points ahead of four teams _ Colorado, Minnesota, Los Angeles and Anaheim _ who were chasing them for the top wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference. It's also important because coach Ken Hitchcock has been pushing his teams for a consistent performance throughout the entire game.
"The last game got our attention," Hitchcock said of a 2-1 shootout loss Thursday caused by a rocky first period. "We're not great at chasing games from behind, and we chased that game in Columbus, and we were a little bit disappointed. It was only one period, but we wanted to make a better account of ourselves. We wanted to be more competitive at the start of the game and start to dictate. It didn't matter if it was Buffalo or anybody, we wanted to dictate, and that's exactly what we did."
Led by the role players, Dallas scored early and often. Remi Elie was persistent in attacking the net, and that netted him his fifth goal of the season 5:03 into the game. Then, Mattias Janmark tallied his 11th and 12th goals, and the Stars had a 3-0 lead and what appeared to be complete control of the game.
That is, until the struggling Sabres showed signs of life. Devin Shore took a tripping penalty in the second period, and the Buffalo power play came up big. Sam Reinhart scored on the rebound off a Jack Eichel shot, and the matinee crowd started to buzz.
But Dallas answered quickly.
The Stars raced up ice, and John Klingberg flicked a shot on net that went through a crowd. Both Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov were in the way, and Benn tipped the puck past Robin Lehner for his 19th goal of the year. The goal came just 38 seconds after the Reinhart goal and pretty much clinched the fact the 11-26-9 Sabres were in for another loss.
"It's always nice after they score to next shift go get one," Benn said. "I think it's more about trying to turn that momentum around. When they score, it's important to have a good comeback shift, and even when we score, you want to be right back in their zone putting the pressure on them."
Putting the pressure on was a theme throughout the night, as the Stars understood the importance of keeping up in the West and also in playing the game they knew they could play.
"The Columbus game wasn't really up to our standards, and we wanted to bounce back and have a stronger effort and play the way we know we can," Benn said. "It's important. It seems we've been playing pretty good hockey of late, and I think we're still only seventh in the conference."
The Stars are 9-3-1 in their past 12 games, and they're catching up to the top three in the Central, but the hounds battling for the wildcard are still hot on their heels.
That's another thing that probably caught their attention after the Columbus game.
"You want to be a team that can bounce back after a bad game or loss, I think that's a good sign," Janmark said. "But this is one game, so we want to keep building on it. The way the league is turning we need the points, so this is good."
